When the Chromebook Pixel first launched, the only bad thing the tech press could come up with about the device was the cost. Despite its beautiful design and top of the line specs, $1,300 is simply way too much for the Pixel. We’ve been waiting for Google to deliver on the same fronts as the Pixel in a more affordable package, and with the HP Chromebook 11, they finally have.

Despite being manufactured by HP, the Chromebook 11 is clearly very heavily influenced by Google. Priced at $279 and coming in with an 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 display, an Exynos 5250, 2GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, a micro USB port for charging and 6 hours of battery life, the HP Chromebook 11 looks to be more than the sum of its parts. The Pixel was praised not just for its specs, but for how it looked, how it felt and the time Google spent on the machine getting it right. The Chromebook 11 looks to be playing in the same league, only having a bit more fun.

Make no mistake, the Chromebook 11 is a cheap laptop. But not necessarily in a bad way. The Chromebook 11 has received the same treatment as the Pixel in a few key areas. First, how it feels. The Chromebook 11 is a smooth plastic with no visible screws, vents or speakers. In spite of the plastic construct, early hands-on reports say it feels relatively sturdy. That’s most likely thanks to the magnesium chassis for added rigidity. It also has the same tapered edges as the Pixel, giving your wrists a break from the sharp edges of Apple’s MacBook computers. And then there’s how it looks. Reminiscent of the plastic MacBooks of yesteryear, the Chromebook 11 comes in either black or white with one of four accent colors: red, blue, green or yellow. It looks awesome. Last but not least, maybe even most importantly, the Chromebook 11 gets a multi-colored lightbar of its own. “Just because it looks cool.”

Google is also throwing a handful of services at the Chromebook 11, giving those that purchase the device 2 years’ worth of 100GB of storage on Google drive, a dozen free sessions of GoGo in-flight internet and 60 days of Google Play Music All Access.

On specs alone, the HP Chromebook 11 isn’t going to be winning any awards. But an affordable price combined with good design and charming looks just might make the Chromebook 11 one of 2013′s must-buy holiday items. If you’re on the fence as to whether or not you need a tablet or laptop, the Chromebook 11 could be perfect for you. The Chromebook 11 is supposed to be available from Best Buy, Google Play, Amazon and HP today, but is only currently available for pre-order on HP, Google Play and Amazon.

I’ve been considering whether or not to pick up a new Nexus 7 or to wait for the rumored new Nexus 10 coming soon from ASUS, but the Chromebook 11 looks mighty tempting. What do you think?

Most Tweeted This Week

http://clarklab.net Clark Wimberly

1366 x 768 :’(

Dustin Earley

At 11 inches… that’s not terrible.

Arthur

HP also has the Chromebook 14 releasing as well with a Haswell chipset good for 9.5 hours of use as well as a optional backlit keyboard and a 32GB SSD, same resolution on the display, only weighs 4 lbs, pretty light for a 14″ laptop.

Ed

I am looking into the 14 as a replacement for my Nexus 10. I already have a nice computer for work at home but need something with some screen real estate for when I’m on the go. This could be perfect.

the fuj.

11″ or 14″ screen at the same resolution has the same exact amount of screen real estate.

bleh_zero

I’d rather get one of the Haswell Chromebooks. It is much easier to install Linux on x86 hardware then ARM hardware and even the most basic *nix distro is more useful then Chrome OS.

master_shuffler

You can install a lot of Linux distributions on Chromebooks already. 16GB of SSD is a bit cramped, but more than enough to have something useful. I installed Linux on my Asus eeePC 701 with only 4GB of SSD for instance.

Tomer

Besides the design what does this have to offer that the year old Samsung chromebook 11.6 doesn’t have? And Samsung is $30 less :/

No, but it’s huge and eats tons of power; unlike a mini laptop is supposed too.

http://aboyandhistv.blogspot.com mvndaai

I would want one, don’t get me wrong, but you shouldn’t call it a pixel for the masses unless you give it a touch screen!

Monte VanNortwick

my 4 inch phone has higher resolution

rauelius

How is this Pixel for the masses in anyway? The pixel had an ultra high-def screen, this doesn’t. The Pixel used an Intel i5 CPU, this uses an ARM CPU pulled from the year+ old Nexus 10. This doesn’t have a touchscreen, while the Pixel did. This HP is closer to the Samsung Chromebook than the Pixel. Hell, the ancient Acer C7 is closer related to the Pixel than this HP(both C7 and Pixel used Intel CPUs, had upgradeable hard-drives, upgradable ram). Acer has some new Haswell based Chromebooks with Touchscreens, so THOSE will be the actual “Pixel for the Masses”. This joke of a writer threw away a headline due to their ignorance. Android and Me is coming real close to being deleted from my feed.

rauelius

How is this Pixel for the masses in anyway? The pixel had an ultra high-def screen, this doesn’t. The Pixel used an Intel i5 CPU, this uses an ARM CPU pulled from the year+ old Nexus 10. This doesn’t have a touchscreen, while the Pixel did. This HP is closer to the Samsung Chromebook than the Pixel. Hell, the ancient Acer C7 is closer related to the Pixel than this HP(both C7 and Pixel used Intel CPUs, had upgradeable hard-drives, upgradable ram). Acer has some new Haswell based Chromebooks with Touchscreens, so THOSE will be the actual “Pixel for the Masses”. This joke of a writer threw away a headline due to their ignorance. Android and Me is coming real close to being deleted from my feed. Yeah, I’m serious.

Masson Liang

I don’t understand the separation between the Chromebook OS and the Android OS.

What would the appeal be to purchase a Chromebook over a Nexus/Android tablet?

Adam

Many people laughed when the Chromebook was first released. Well, they’re still around, and Google keeps improving them while adding more hardware partners.

Chromebooks are not meant to replace laptops. They are not meant to be for every type of user. They are meant for users that spend most of their time in a browser and want a device that starts up fast and is easy to use. That’s a nice sized market.

If you’re considering Chromebooks but also need access to Windows applications you can look at solutions like, Ericom AccessNow an HTML5 RDP client that enables Chromebook users to securely connect to any RDP host, including Terminal Server and VDI virtual desktops, and run their applications and desktops in a browser.

AccessNow does not require any client to be installed on the Chromebook, as you only need the HTML5-compatible browser.